Discovery Ministries Challenge Trip Information

These 7 to 14 day wilderness trips in a group of 6 to 12 participants are the ultimate in experiential learning at Discovery Ministries. The majority of our challenge trip participants say it is the hardest thing they have ever done.

We provide everything you need except your clothes. We usually do some group initiatives and low and high ropes course work in camp to prepare the group to work together. Then, we teach them the skills they need to take a trip in the wilderness together.

After these preparations, the group and two D.M. facilitators drop on the river or in the woods to begin an intense learning experience. The facilitators give the group destinations, then follow wherever the group leads. What the group cooks and eats, the facilitators eat. We try to incorporate some of the other exciting activities D.M. has to offer, but whether or not we get to do them depends on how well the group works together to reach destinations and the weather.

Challenge trips are designed to push you out of your comfort zone. The way you act when you are lost in the woods and it is raining is the same way you act when situations stress you in your normal life.

This is a hands on study in love, sacrifice, courage, endurance, body life, and whatever other lessons the group and individuals are prepared to learn. Bible study and nightly debriefing are an integral part of the trip.

The pricing for these trips is designed to motivate you to take longer trips. This is not because it is cheaper for us to do longer trips. The reason is longer term growth can take place on a longer trip than on a shorter trip. Take building a fire as an example. If we build a fire for you every night, you will not know how to build a fire. If we show you how to build a fire and then you build a fire for 4 days, you will remember how to build a fire for maybe a month. If we give you matches and let you struggle to figure out how to build a fire for 4 days, then have you build a fire for the remaining 4 to 8 days; you will remember how to build a fire for the rest of your life. On the shorter trips we need to show you how to build a fire. On the longer trips, we can let you figure out how to build a fire. All the other camping skills, character skills, group interaction skills, etc. are learned in much the same way.